Luck of the Irish **

(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)
Ownership of a house in a formerly all-white neighborhood is the focus of a play that takes place in two time frames -- the present and 50 years ago. That may sound like "Clybourne Park II," but it turns out to be something quite different. Playwright Kirsten Greenidge and director Rebecca Taichman, who had a solid success together with "Milk Like Sugar" at Playwrights Horizons in 2011 are teamed once again in this latest production of LCT3 at the Claire Tow Theater. Did lightning strike twice? Not quite. The new play lacks the clear focus and intensity of their earlier collaboration. Two sisters, the married Hannah (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and her single sister Nessa (Carra Patterson) have inherited the home which their recently deceased grandparents Rex (Victor Williams) and Lucy (Eisa Davis) Taylor purchased 50 years back. A young impoverished Irish Catholic couple Joe (Dashiell Eaves) and Patty Ann (Amanda Quaid) Donovan are enlisted as "ghost buyers" who, for a fee, are to make the purchase and then sign the title over to the Taylors. In what seemed to me an implausible development, the Taylors move into the home before the title has been signed over to them. Hannah and her laid-back husband Rich (Frank Harts) are now living in the house with their unseen son Miles, who has ADHD, and whose problems at school Hannah sees as racially based. She stubbornly wants to keep the house although her sister wants to sell it. Out of the blue, the elderly Mr. Donovan (now played by Robert Hogan) shows up to tell the sisters that the title was never signed over to their grandparents and his wife now wants the house. Eventually, his wife (now played by Jenny O'Hara) shows up, title in hand. I won't say more about the outcome. The first act is burdened with too much shouting -- parents shouting at misbehaving children, shouting spouses, shouting siblings. The dialog between shouts is often banal. However, this is one of the rare plays that improves in the second act. There is a lovely scene between Lucy and Joe and a powerful scene between Lucy and Patty Ann. The elderly Patty Ann has a fine speech near the end. Surprisingly, at least for me, the Donovans -- both the young and old versions -- came across as more sympathetic than any of the black characters. Lucy is an intriguing creation -- beautiful, refined, well-traveled, well-read and well-dressed (and superbly played by Davis), but is too much of a stereotype turned inside out. Joe, as portrayed by both Eaves and Hogan, had more humanity than all the others. There were a few things that puzzled me. Why does the playwright bring up the mysterious deal broker John, whom we never meet and whose existence seemed superfluous? Why have the sisters been raised by their grandparents? Mimi Lien, whose set for "Dance and the Railroad" I greatly admired, has created another attractive minimalist set. Oana Botez's costumes, especially for Lucy, are a treat. Taichman's direction is fluid and assured. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes including intermission.

Milk Like Sugar ***

(Always click on the title to see the complete review!)
Kirsten Greenidge's ambitious new play is now at Playwrights Horizons in a coproduction with Women's Project Theater and the La Jolla Playhouse. Among the many topics it takes on are teenage pregnancy, rampant consumerism, mother-daughter relations, friendship and loyalty, the fear of loneliness, and the degradation of feeling that arises from living in a circumscribed world. That's a big agenda for a 100-minute play, perhaps too big. However, the production is so heartfelt that it is impossible not to be drawn into the world of these four African-American 16-year-old girls (Angela Lewis as the main character Annie, Cherise Boothe as mean girl Talisha, Nikiya Mathis as follower Margie and Adrienne C. Moore as Keera, the religious, plump outcast), two young men (J. Mallory McCree as Malik, a high school senior determined to break out of the ghetto, and LeRoy McClain as Antwoine, a would-be tattoo artist), and, finally, Annie's bitter, unloving mother Myrna (the superb Tonya Pinkins). The desire to have a baby to offer the unconditional love missing from their lives leads Annie, Talisha and Margie to form a pact to get pregnant at the same time. Annie is fixed up with Malik, whom she sees as just a sperm donor, but he has other plans. It's unusual that the men are the more sensitive characters, while the women are often mean and uncaring. The play has several riveting scenes. That not all the loose ends get tied up is a minor flaw. The play tries to end on a slightly hopeful note, but I was left with a feeling of deep sorrow for those who are trapped by their circumstances. The cast is uniformly strong. The set by Mimi Lien includes a moveable wall that suggests how the world is closing in. The costumes by Toni-Leslie James vividly capture the characters even before they say a word. Rebecca Taichman's direction in smooth and assured.

The title refers to the powdered milk that is often a staple in low-income households. It may look like sugar, but it's not sweet.